The Packer
by jack63kids
Summary: Dedicated to EscapedRabbitBlueBell on the occasion of her birthday, 17th Jan 2013. Story written in the form of a 221B per chapter. Case involving a disturbing package which is delivered to New Scotland Yard, we join the action as Sherlock is investigating ... but first a preview - one side of a telephone conversation as a complaint is noted ... Slight edit to ending of chapter 2.
1. Chapter 1

_You ordered the Plum Blossom Sake and Sushi set, a set of chopsticks and a matching tea set with cast iron teapot and set of four Japanese tea cups._

_A good choice, I particular like those- ... ah, yes, let's get down to- ..._

_So, what products were broken on arrival? ... Nothing. Did you ask for gift wrapping? ... No. ... No, no, not mocking at all. I need to get this straight, write it all down. I don't work in complaints, you see, I need to pass this matter onto them when they get back from lunch._

_Ok, let's get this straight. Nothing was broken, the fancy packaging on the inside was fine, but the parcel tape on the outer packing box was crooked. Would that be angled diagonally or wrinkled? Diagonal - thank you. Would you say that was more than 5% off true ... less, you'd say. Less - than - five - degrees ... Yes, yes, just writing that down for the records. And any labeling - oh, that was all fine. Not skew-whiff at all? No, ma'am, not mocking, as I said ... yes, need to take down all the particulars for the Complaints Department._

_Which department do I work in? Why do you ask? ... Oh, ok. ... Yes I can see that. ... Well, that would be packing ... Yes, I'm sure that you will be telling my boss._


	2. Chapter 2

Sherlock leant over the box, peering inside, looking animated and in awe; beaming like a kid with a Christmas present.

"This is someone who enjoys their work. They take pride in all the details of what they do. Look at that line! Look how exactly the bubble-wrap is cut to size and the lovely right angle there ...

"See that envelope effect? That's the packing equivalent of hospital corners. Ever tried to do that with bubble-wrap? Not easy, believe me. This, however, is a work of art."

Sherlock was all but salivating.

"All it needed was one small piece of Sellotape - there - and it's stuck in place. Not going anywhere that bubble-wrap - that is one, wrapped box.

"See that parcel tape there? That beautiful cut edge? That was done by hand with a Stanley knife. They didn't use a tape dispenser, this was personal. No machines, just the skill of the artist at work, in touch with their material."

"So what's the significance, Sherlock?" John asked.

"We're looking for a professional packer. Takes pride in their work, doesn't take criticism well. Middle-aged. Lives on the South Coast." He sat back smiling serenely.

John leant over the remains of the wrapping, a puzzled look on his face. "You can tell all that from a severed head in a box?"


	3. Chapter 3

"She works really fast too," Sherlock said confidently.

John looked doubtful. "And you know that from ... from what exactly, Sherlock? You say she's precise, and you know somehow that she's a fast worker - and that it is a _she_ at all. How exactly?"

"Because I've seen her work before."

John swallowed, uncomfortably certain that his flatmate had covered up an earlier crime. "You mean she's killed like this before and she's still out there ... out there with the general public? Murdering and sticking heads in boxes?"

"Not to my knowledge, no. I've just seen her packing work before, and so have you."

"Really?" John couldn't think how.

"Oh yeah. That Japanese tea set that you bought for Mrs H last Christmas, was from her company."

"Oh, ok," John said distractedly. "That still doesn't explain how you know her speed of working."

"Anyone that good at what they do deserves a closer look. I went and watched her work, Christmas before last, when you were whooping it up at that office party with Scotland Yard's finest."

"Well that made sense. Traveling all that way to watch someone pack boxes just to avoid an office party. Whole day?"

"Three," Sherlock replied not missing a beat. "Worth every moment."

John blinked, completely dumbfounded.

"Anyway, get your coat, John. We need to go to Bournemouth."

* * *

**_Any interested parties might wish to go back to chapter 2, which has been slightly amended at the end. Thanks to JAL who convinced me to make the changes this late in the story._**


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello, Beryl!" Sherlock was smiling in a friendly manner, which belayed his true intentions. Beryl however, seemed to have been expecting him and was already confessing before he had time to lay out his case against her.

"She should never have said what she did about the packing. She was asking for trouble - no one should phone in a complaint at lunchtime - got what was coming to her."

John looked stunned. "So the moral is, that if you have a complaint, not to phone at lunchtime?"

Both Sherlock and Beryl ignored him.

"Ok, you've got me. But, Sherlock, can I ask a huge favour? I know it's a liberty, but this order needs to catch today's post and I've still got a few items on the list to get through."

"Show me the list." Sherlock ran his eye down the page and looked up appraisingly at the packer in front of him. "Four hours and twenty five minutes do it?"

"Oh nearer, three hours fifty seven," she said grinning coyly. "Less, if you join in."

"Deal," Sherlock agreed, "PC plod can wait until we're done."

"I'm in," John added, though he was wondering the legality of what they were agreeing to.

Both sets of eyes were upon him and he shifted uncomfortably. "Don't look like that. I'm not a complete butterfingers!"


	5. Chapter 5

_**This chapter is written from John's POV. It doesn't move the story along too much, but careful readers might notice the odd clue ... and I shall be posting two chapters in one today as it's been a long time and you deserve some actual plot ...**_

* * *

"How accurate does it have to be?" I asked.

"Not very-" she answered before Sherlock chimed in with-

"... Or she'd not ask you to do it."

"_Sherlock_!" Her tone was admonishing, like a parent ticking off an unruly child.

It was fun packing. I raced myself - seeing how many packets I could stuff; how many labels I could stick on the side of boxes in a minute.

I was opening and lining up boxes of teapots when she spoke, making me jump. "Turn the spouts all round the same way, will you, John... No, don't turn the box, they need to all face the same way too, just turn the teapots."

"How did you know that was what I was going to do?"

"I've trained enough packers to know by now," she laughed.

On to the next thing ...

"John, can you turn every second piece the other way up please?"

"_Why_?" This from Sherlock, who had stopped in the middle of wrapping a bundle of Japanese calligraphy brushes.

"It's just a foible of mine. Not strictly necessary but I like to put the two pieces of bubble-wrap the other way up from each other when I double-wrap," she said blushing.

"What did you say?" Sherlock's hands were stock still but his eyes were darting. "Who are you protecting, Beryl?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Who else have you trained, Beryl? Who else can match your fastidious style? Who does everything the same way as you do, except for your signature move of reversing the bubble-wrap?"

Beryl looked askance. John had the strong impression that she was appalled to have been found out, doing something more unspeakable than bloody murder.

"... Someone who cares as much as you do that your work is criticised unfairly."

"Sherlock, please!" she begged, a look of panic in her eyes. Suddenly she looked a lot older than she had some moments before. She had seemed so calm and in control when confessing to horrific murder - one she may well not have committed - and now she looked like a scared rabbit.

"I wondered why the package was sent to the Yard and not the local Bill. You've been framed and, for some reason, you are going along with it - no, more than that, you _want_ this."

"Sherlock, _don't_!" she pleaded. "I've confessed, turn me over, but please don't ask anything more."

Sherlock continued as if he'd not heard her. "This isn't just a colleague - who then? Blood relation - something a mother might do for their child ..."

Beryl broke down, they could just hear what she said next through her sobs. "We thought at first it was Boarderline Personality Disorder or Bipolar."


	7. Chapter 7

"She was always strange, but it got worse as she got older. She's had every diagnosis going; ADHD, borderline personality disorder, Asperger's, Bipolar, Schizophrenia. I lose track of the psychiatrists she's seen, the drugs she's taken, the countless, bloody useless therapy session. None of them helped," Beryl sobbed. "I think... that she's really a psychopath."

John placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You need to turn her in for her own good," he said sagely.

Beryl looked up at him through teary eyelashes. "How can I? It's not her fault that she is, the way that she is." She turned towards Sherlock a pained expression on her face. "Why couldn't you have kept out of it, Sherlock?"

The remainder of the packing was abandoned. There was more urgency since they no longer believed that the murderer was safely under their gaze. Finally, Beryl agreed to take them to her sister's house where Cathy was waiting out her mother's certain arrest. They'd planned this well, knowing that Sherlock would come eventually.

Beryl wanted to be present when the local bill dragged her daughter from the house, in case reassurance or persuading to open the door were needed.

The younger woman looked wild eyed as they led her away. She only said one word to her mother as she passed her. "_Bitch_!"


	8. Chapter 8

Cathy refused her mother as appropriate adult so a duty social worker was called. In the lull, three dismal figures sat in an unused interview room where a constable brought them a tray of drinks.

"It's no good asking what you want. They all taste pretty much the same - help yourselves to milk and sugar."

John took a cup that might be tea, but tasted mostly of polystyrene.

"I don't understand," Sherlock said apropos of nothing. "You wanted me to trace the package to you, or you'd not have addressed it to the Yard. It wasn't because you wanted to get caught. It was so we'd find your daughter and they'd take all your problems away. So why not just hand her in, Beryl?"

"It's got to the point where I can't take her anywhere for fear she'll hurt someone; and I can't leave her at home, for fear that she will hurt herself. You can't know what it is like to see a child of your own..."

Beryl pulled at her hair distractedly before continuing, "She needs help, she'll get it in prison. They'd keep an eye on her and she'd be away from _decent_ people."

John was shocked. "And just because someone's in gaol, doesn't mean they aren't 'decent'?"

The woman snorted in derision. "They aren't in my book!"


	9. Chapter 9

"Oh, don't look like that! - I'd have warned them and she'd have gone to a closed psych ward."

"Have you read the latest report on psychiatric services in our prisons?" John asked. "It's not pretty reading, believe me."

She took a sip at her tea, grimaced and went on to answer Sherlock's original question, ignoring John's interjection. "She begged me not to turn her in. What could I do? She's my only child. At least this way she thought that I was on her side. She'll forgive me at some point when she knows we couldn't fool the great detective for long and she might as well turn herself in without a fight. '_But, darling, I couldn't bear to think of you on the run._' I couldn't let her think that this was my plan all along."

John shuddered. She was so calculating.

"So who had the conversation with the Plum Blossom sushi-set woman then?" Sherlock asked, seemingly unmoved by what they were hearing.

"Oh, that was me. She overheard and looked up the details after I went back to the packing room." Beryl took another slug of her vile tea.

The young constable stuck his head around the door.

"I thought you'd like to know. They're done - you might as well go though as there's no chance of bail."


	10. Chapter 10

Finally the court date came and Sherlock and John were waiting in the corridor as Beryl and her daughter, rounded the corner with the barrister.

Sherlock was eyeing them with an appraising air. "What is it?" John hissed in his ear.

"I hear that Beryl is supporting her daughter in a plea of not guilty. What happened to 'I want her to get help'? You'll note a distinct lack of madness emanating from her. And look how chummy they are..."

The two women were walking closely together, almost arm in arm and grinned over at the men when they saw them. Cathy was looking anything but deranged, in a pastel suit and with her hair in a neat bob. They seemed to have completely abandoned their plea of 'not guilty by reason of insanity' or she'd be playing up the wild-eyed look.

Beryl strode over, when she saw the two men standing there looking bemused. She had a triumphant look on her face.

"Changed your mind about getting a dangerous woman off the streets, Beryl," Sherlock hissed.

"Are you _sure_, Sherlock? Are you really sure which of us did it? You're usually so definite, but I can see the hesitation in your eyes - reasonable doubt. And if you're not sure, then how sure do you think that jury will be?"


	11. Chapter 11

Sherlock gave his evidence, but every time he spoke, his words were twisted, so they could point to either Cathy or her mother as the murderer. One thing was certain, there was no evidence of any history of mental illness in Cathy or any other family member. The only mention of such, had been Beryl's appeal to Sherlock to back off, and she now denied saying any such thing.

Cathy was acquitted and the judge called for Beryl's arrest. Every eye was on Beryl's reaction as she beamed over at the judge. Every eye but one, apparently. Sherlock leant over and hissed in John's ear, "They're in cahoots - the lot of them." John looked over just in time to see the shadow of a smile leave the mouth of the husband of the victim as he turned. John followed the previous line of the man's gaze across the room and caught Cathy looking at him with concern over her elfin features.

John didn't expect to be appraised of every detail before the trial, but this case had thrown up more surprises than several series of an Australian soap opera. He wouldn't be shocked if Beryl turned out to have been replaced by Bertha, her evil twin, and that Cathy was really the love-child of the Judge and her own Barrister.


	12. Chapter 12

Sherlock spend the next few days shifting through the evidence. Every once in a while he'd emerge to make a pronouncement about facts. "Right, no more shilly-shallying around. No more confessions and accusations leading us astray. Cold hard facts. Give - me - facts!"

After nearly three days of not washing, not eating, he looked John in the eye and asked, "So the husband of the victim. What's the connection?" John looked perplexed and shook his head without speaking.

Sherlock tried a new tack. "What's that thing you do online, John?"

"My blog?"

"No, not that one, that other thing you do online. That thing you do with Molly."

"Dunno, but it sounds a bit kinky."

"That book thing, you know!"

The penny dropped. "Oh, Facebook?"

Sherlock wandered off and made some phone-calls. It was late at night when a cycle-courier arrived with what was probably Beryl's laptop. He then spend the next hour or so hacking into Beryl's Facebook account and then Cathy's. He had a smug look on his face the whole time.

John listened to Sherlock muttering darkly about deletions and history of searches.

Early the next morning John was jolted out of a dream by Sherlock crying out, "_Got the bastard_! Or at least I can prove connection between the husband, our Beryl, and their bastard!"


	13. Chapter 13

"Once in a while my 'delete' facility is partial, and a disparate fact comes to mind. In this case, some puerile article on marriage break-up due to people being reunited online with old lovers. Molly had been reading it during a long autopsy and I glanced at the headline. You never know if studies and statistically analysis will come in handy - it was more gossip-column than dissertation though, so I soft deleted it."

John couldn't imagine Sherlock reading Molly's magazines for entertainment, but then he's been wrong about Sherlock's recreational leanings before.

"Turns out, in _this_ case, that the lovers had a child - Cathy - possibly as a result of an affair, then many years later decided that they cannot live without each other and the only way to be reunited would be to murder his wife.

"Naturally you noticed the similarity in facial features between the husband and Cathy. Especially the nose."

"Noses run in my family too," John said. Sherlock shot him a side-on look and continued with his train of thought.

"Whoever throttled her and cut her head off, they are all in it together. Conspiracy to commit murder is worth a pretty hefty stretch - we could put them all away for a long time. If we could prove who did the actual deed - even better!"


	14. Chapter 14

Doug opened the door, but they were all there, unashamed to be found together.

"Let us tell you how this thing is going to run, Sherlock." Doug said, once they were sat with a pot of strong tea and some chocolate digestives.

"It's my turn next," Beryl said. "My trial's going to go pretty much as Cathy's did. Some evidence that points to me, or might just as well point to Cathy again... or Doug."

"By the time we're finished, the jury won't know which way is up," Cathy said smiling.

"I shall give evidence that might possibly incriminate me, and so we go again," Doug confided.

"And then all three of us will have had our day in court and all found not guilty and so can't be tried again," finished Cathy.

"Just for the record, Sherlock, which one of us do you think did it?" Beryl asked brightly.

Sherlock sipped his tea commenting dispassionately, "I can see motives for you all. Cathy and Beryl for revenge against the woman who took their father or lover away, and to get him back. And Doug as a crime of passion or to rid him of the wifely burden he had grown to despise."

Doug looked sadly down. "She used to be a barrel of laughs, but lately she'd grown so bitter."


	15. Chapter 15

Sherlock waited until they had rounded the corner before grabbing John by the arm and gleefully saying, "We _have_ them! Phone Lestrade! They think they can sale through the trials relying on double jeopardy. Not since the Stephen Lawrence case was retried. Not if we can find compelling new evidence to go for a retrial."

Sherlock was dancing around excitedly and John felt bad if what he was going to say brought him down with a bump.

"They haven't been tried yet, Sherlock and you're already talking about retrial and we don't _have_ anything new." He didn't get the reaction that he'd been expecting though ...

"No, but we might get a believable case against the three of them before Beryl's trial, but Cathy still needs retrying. Evidence is merely a technicality now we know that they're in it together. Plenty of precedent with the murderers of Julie Hogg and Vikki Thompson."

And then it was hours of experimenting, more of trawling through evidence and statements and searches on the Net. John was exhausted by the time the sun came up, but he had to admit that they did indeed 'have' them.

Maybe one day John will write up the court scene on his blog. It'll include a nice description of the packer who, in front of judge and jury, went berserk!

**END**

* * *

_Many thanks to Lucy who provided enough potential B words for 3 dozen 221Bs! I shall be using baboon sometime soon, preferably about Anderson!_

* * *

**_When Stephen Lawrence was murdered by racist thugs in 1993, his killers were not convicted at the time. The Macpherson Report on the handling of the case showed that the police investigation and evidence was flawed and hampered a conviction. One of the changes in law was that the double jeopardy rule should be abrogated in murder cases to allow retrial if 'new and substantial evidence' comes to light._**

**_This new ruling has brought about the convictions of the murderers of Julie Hogg in 2006, following his confession, and of Vikki Thompson in 2010, following retrial after forensic advances brought new evidence to support the police's case._**

* * *

**This evening I am watching a documentary on the campaign to get justice for Stephen Lawrence. Completely coincidentally, my daughter is studying the case and we are watching it together. It brought back so many memories as I remember the events really well from the time. I strongly suggest that anyone interested in justice and legal precedents check out online sources on Stephen's case.  
**


End file.
